Western Digital, the largest producer of hard disk drives and a maker of various wireless and consumer products, this week unveiled the new My Net AC1300 HD dual-band 450Mb/s+1300Mb/s router and My Net AC bridge as the latest additions to the My Net family of dual-band routers. These products combine 802.11ac draft wireless technology with WD’s exclusive FasTrack prioritizing technology for bandwidth-critical applications.

IEEE 802.11ac is the next-generation Wi-Fi wireless networking standard on the 5GHz band with theoretical multi-station WLAN throughput of at least 1Gb/s and a maximum single link throughput of at least 500Mb/s. The IEEE 802.11ac extends the air interface concepts embraced by 802.11n with wider RF bandwidth (up to 160MHz), more MIMO spatial streams (up to 8), multi-user MIMO, and high-density modulation (up to 256 QAM). Currently the standard is under development. All the routers entering the market today are compliant with draft 3.0 or draft 4.0 802.11ac specification.

My Net AC1300 includes four Gigabit Ethernet ports for wired devices such as media players or network attached storage, as well as two USB 2.0 ports to easily add external storage such as My Book or My Passport hard drives, shared printers and scanners. Additionally, My Net AC1300 is Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) certified for easy detection and connection of Wi-Fi devices, as well as Windows 8 certified for seamless support of the new Microsoft operating system.

With the new My Net AC Bridge, customers can convert up to four devices like a smart TV, game console, Blu-ray disc player and media player from wired-Ethernet to wireless and get blazing-fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi speeds for the ultimate HD entertainment experience. This reduces the amount of network cabling needed in the home without sacrificing the throughput Ethernet provides. The My Net AC Bridge is easy to set up by simply pushing the WPS buttons on the bridge and the My Net AC1300 router (or other 802.11ac routers).

WD’s exclusive FasTrack technology automatically prioritizes high-bandwidth entertainment services like Netflix, YouTube, online games and Skype, to provide maximum streaming performance inside the home. According to Western Digital, 802.11ac technology provides three times faster and with more reliable coverage, than wireless 802.11n Wi-Fi.

The recent introduction of our My Net family of routers brought several new breakthroughs to the market, including our acclaimed FasTrack prioritization technology, amazingly simple setup and the My Net N900 Central router with storage. The My Net AC1300 and My Net AC WiFi bridge build on those breakthroughs, setting a new standard for wireless speeds and delivering maximum HD streaming performance for our customers, while driving multiple devices on the home network at the same time,” said Scott Vouri, general manager for WD's connected life solutions group.

My Net AC1300 router and My Net AC bridge are available now at select U.S. retailers and online at wdstore.com. Manufacturer's suggested retail price is $189.99 for My Net AC1300 and $149.99 for My Net AC Bridge.